The mayor of the Polish city of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was stabbed on Sunday (13 January). Piotr Kaczyński reports in his blog 2019euelectionspoland.com.

At 20:00 on Sunday night, Mayor Adamowicz (53) was stabbed in the stomach multiple times during a charity concert. The attacker forced himself on stage and attacked the mayor with a knife.

The attacker identified himself as “Stefan” and shouted off the stage: “I was innocently jailed. The Civic Platform tortured me. This is why Paweł Adamowicz is dead,” before the police arrested him.

Earlier that day, Adamowicz had been collecting money for the WOŚP charity and had told followers that he had improved on his personal best as a campaigning volunteer. In 2019, he has collected 5,613 zł (about €1,300).

Mayor Adamowicz was given first aid on stage before being taken to a hospital in a serious condition.

UPDATE MONDAY 14 Jan 2019 7:30 hrs.

Surviving a five-hour-long operation, Adamowicz is in a stable but difficult condition, confirmed hospital doctors;

Blood supplies needed: in Gdańsk and elsewhere around the country the blood collection points open as early as 7:00 hrs;

There will be a March Against Violence later today, at 18:00 hrs in Gdańsk;

More information about the mayor’s condition will be given at midday.

About Adamowicz

Paweł Adamowicz has been mayor of Gdańsk since 1998. His first steps in politics were with the Liberal-Democratic Congress (KLD), the first party of Donald Tusk. He was among the founding members of the Civic Platform (PO) in 2001.

Adamowicz has won all the direct elections for the mayorship of Gdańsk since 2002. The mayor fell out with the PO in 2015 when he was accused of irregularities in his financial statements. Despite problems in the last elections in November 2018 run-off, he defeated PiS candidate Kacper Płażyński.

Paweł Adamowicz is married with two children.

The blog 2019EUelectionsPoland is part of the journalistic project #Gimme5EU for covering the EU elections in five countries: Poland, Italy, France, Romania and Bulgaria.